Trump Replies make America Great Again! to Tweet About His Attacks on African Americans
Introduction
The presidential election of 2022 swept in Donald Trump and his unrestrained use of Twitter, earning him the title of "Tweeter in Master." Trump earned this title due to the sheer number of tweets and retweets emanating from his personal account (@realDonaldTrump). According to the Trump Twitter Annal V2 , from Inauguration 24-hour interval on January xx, 2017, to December 5, 2020, 7:50 p.chiliad. Mountain Standard Time (MST), Trump tweeted 16,164 times and retweeted nine,427, creating a total of 25,591 interactions (tweets + retweets). This corporeality equals over eleven interactions per day (thetrumparchive.com). Withal, it is non the volume of tweets Donald Trump sent that is important, but the meanings and messages embedded within his tweets.
Trump's election loss escalated his continued denial of the results and increased calls for violence (Run into Figure 1) with well over 458,000 likes, showing the achieve and understanding of his bulletin. The tweet stating, "JANUARY 6th, SEE YOU IN DC!" was brusk (simplistic), impulsive (ordering followers to DC in a week's fourth dimension) and uncivil (all caps/shouting) in its enthymemic call for violence. While Trump's spoken language in person on January half dozen, 2022 initiated the bodily march to, and subsequent storming of the capitol, this tweet set the stage by urging people to travel to Washington, D.C. and be set up to act on Trump's instructions.
Figure 1 Trump's Tweet "JANUARY Sixth, Encounter YOU IN DC!".
Responding tweets (See Figures 2 and 3) provide additional support to the claim that Trump called for violence with references to fighting and wildness every bit well as projecting images of armed foot soldiers and armed services airplanes.
Figure 2 Response to Trump's Tweet Like-minded to Be There and Fight.
Figure 3 Another Response to Trump's Tweet Like-minded to Be In that location and Fight.
The era of the "Tweeter in Chief" ended on January 8, 2022 after Twitter decided to ban Trump following a series of his incendiary tweets. Twitter based the ban on violations of its Glorification of Violence policy, citing the following two Trump tweets with the second i sent approximately an 60 minutes after the starting time (See Figures 4 and 5). Twitter understood these tweets equally Trump advocating for future violence in the days leading up to the inauguration and, thus in their words, permanently suspended the president ( Twitter, 2021 ).
Figure 4 First of Trump'southward Two Tweets That Led to Twitter Ban.
Effigy five Second of Trump's Two Tweets That Led to Twitter Ban.
While these two tweets are specific examples of Trump's calls to violence, his rhetoric of hate, both verbal and written, ran the gamut of misogynistic ( McAlister, 2018 ; Shear & Sullivan, 2018 ; Walsh, 2018 ), racist ( Graham et al., 2019 ; McElwee & McDaniel, 2017 ; Shafer, 2017), classist ( Graham et al., 2019 ; Miller, 2016 ; Pramuk, 2017 ), Islamophobic ( Hossain, 2020 ; Khan et al., 2020 ; Klaas, 2019 ), anti-immigrant ( Hooghe & Dassonneville, 2018 ; McElwee & McDaniel, 2017 ; Silva, 2018 ), homophobic ( Acosta, 2020 ), and everything in betwixt. He has also mocked disabled people ( Carmon, 2016 ), criticized the military machine service and cede of veterans ( Goldberg, 2020 ; Kellman, 2019 ), and encouraged violence from his supporters ( Cathey & Keneally, 2020 ; Solender, 2020 ).
Trump'southward propensity for using Twitter and his big number of followers, which equally of December eight, 2022 at three:25 p.m. MST, was 88.6 million, ( Twitter, 2020 ) allowed him to straight reach millions of people quickly and easily. Twitter prizes speed (tweets are sent out instantly) and openness (tweets are public unless the privacy setting is set to protected tweets, which can but be viewed by approved followers), thus enabling Trump to connect, communicate, influence, command, and govern through the vastly popular platform.
Trump's tweets utilise several rhetorical devices to ensure his audition understands the message and/or desired action. The rhetorical device under consideration in this essay is the enthymeme. In enthymemes, using Gerard Hauser's ( 2002 ) definition, the rhetor and audience share common beliefs and actively participate in building and creating the argument together. Enthymemes give Trump the ability to deny declared statements or argue he was misunderstood since enthymemes are generally implicit and can exist interpreted differently by various audiences. An analysis of Trump'due south tweets exemplifies how he builds and connects with those sharing and willing to contribute to the finish upshot of creating a divide between Americans by casting them against each other, establishing an U.s.a. versus Them philosophy.
By examining Twitter as a vehicle for Trump's communication, Ott and Dickinson ( 2020 ) aspect Trump'south Twitter success to its attributes. Trump embraces, the simplicity, impulsivity, and incivility inherent in Twitter's structure as a medium for communication. In understanding how Trump employs the enthymeme, I utilize Gerard Hauser's ( 2002 ) interpretation of the enthymeme where the rhetor and audition share mutual beliefs and actively participate in building and creating the argument. In combining these 2 frameworks, I fence Trump uses what I describe as the bombastic enthymeme in a multitude of tweets. The bombastic enthymeme contains elements of simplicity, impulsivity, and incivility creating arguments understood, built upon, and agreed on by Trump's followers. While many of Trump's tweets are enthymemic in nature, they nevertheless permit for plausible deniability. Due to their bombastic nature and use of hyperbole, these characteristics permit deniability despite what may be quite manifestly a hateful or fear raising statement. Trump shows (See Figure vi) what he deems are the results from the 2 choices for President of the U.s.. A vote for Biden brings doom and disaster while a vote for Trump brings recovery, prosperity, and freedom/freedom. This tweet ways to create fear and panic among the voters due to the hyperbole predicting implausible results from a Biden victory, the killing of the American Dream.
Figure 6 Trump'southward Tweet Predicting Doom and Disaster.
Followers fight back past attributing the characteristics of Trump's tweet to those attacking Trump (See Figure seven – a response to Effigy 8 Trump tweet near suburban housewives). Plausible deniability is vital to Trump's survival as he may be called by either criminal or civil court cases for a multitude of crimes including the nigh serious of inciting an coup ( Ayer & Eisen, 2021 ) and being complicit in COVID-xix deaths ( Kelly, 2021 ). This deniability offers Trump protection and a defense against these charges.
Figure seven Response to Trump's Tweet Countering Trump's Racist Statements.
Figure 8 Trump's Tweet Urging Suburban Housewives to Vote for Him.
While Trump also retweets posts containing messages of detest, this article focuses on Trump'south rhetoric as information technology pertains to his own words in the digital arena of Twitter. In this article, I volition examine three topics consisting of multiple tweets or threads addressed past Donald Trump'south tweets – exploring how the enthymemes are created, the ideographs independent within these enthymemes, the role Twitter'southward attributes play, and how rhetor and audience create these understandings together. In considering these topics, I fence that together, they expose how rhetoric within a digital space can be polarizing and hateful, thus contributing to a division amidst Americans.
Enthymemes
Aristotle coined the term, enthymeme, merely did not fully define information technology, leaving many scholars to debate the definition ( Bitzer, 1959 ; Poster, 1992 ). Additionally, Poster ( 1992 ) posits that definitions for, "…rhetorical terms are non and so much immutable entities with stock-still and unchangeable meanings, just rather methods by which a culture analyzes its own discursive practices…" (p. 1), which supports the enthymeme as a dynamic entity adapting to its environment and/or customs. In moving away from the enthymeme as a logical syllogism, Hauser ( 2002 ) claims there are three key elements to the enthymeme, (1) "…some point of common footing amidst rhetor and audience," (2) "…a linking premise that joins the mutual ground of the rhetor and audience to a conclusion," and (3) "…enthymematic arguments are co-constructed by audience and rhetor" (p. 125). Every bit such, the enthymeme is more than missing information inside an statement, it is missing data the rhetor and audience believe in and actively participate in building and creating. Information technology cannot be adamant exactly what the audience thinks and believes is the common ground and how it links to the argument. Yet I would argue the tweets I analyze exemplify Hauser's fundamental elements as evidenced by the audition'south response to Trump'south tweets (either through retweeting, liking, or responding). Trump's enthymemes often appoint the concept of ideographs as well to communicate his meaning. Ideographs play a social function in communities past offering an established significant understood past those within the community ( McGee, 1980 ). While outsiders might sympathise the lexicon version of the ideograph, they miss its culturally understood pregnant because they do not belong to the group. Many times, enthymemes rely on ideographs to function, as understanding the ideograph allows people to comprehend the enthymeme. In my study I examine how Trump employs ideographs within his enthymemes (e.k., the American Dream, suburbs) by using hegemonic ideas of these ideographs to co-create the significant called for, within his tweets.
Twitter'south Affordances
Circulation is what new media in general, tweets particularly so, are well-suited to do. The characteristics of speed and openness provide tweets the affordance to disseminate, allowing for circulation to occur within a natural menstruation. There is no waiting as in asynchronous communication, or gatekeepers as with many other social networking sites. Aided by these features, Twitter provides a channel via retweeting for tweets to travel widely and exponentially. Successful tweets are measured by their circulatory runway records. That is, tweets enter the public and either circulate within the public sphere or fade away. The limited number of characters (280) permitted in a tweet allow the audition to read the bulletin without delving into extraneous text. Readers can determine virtually immediately if the tweet has value and if a response action (retweeting, responding, or an external action) should be taken. A value of circulation is being able to decide and create a response in a minimal amount of time and the openness of Twitter encourages dissemination as well.
The speed at which tweets can be posted and then retweeted provides the opportunity for hateful or false data to spread exponentially. As plant in a recent report, "It took the truth about six times as long as falsehood to accomplish 1500…. [and] falsehoods were lxx% more probable to exist retweeted than the truth" ( Ott & Dickinson, 2020 as cited in Vosoughi et al. 2018, p. 1148). Before social media the ability to spread information at this charge per unit of speed was not possible. Social media enables instant communication.
Along with circulation, the affordances social media provides such as speed, openness, and accessibility allow people to connect, be heard, and organize and unite in a fight for social justice and fairness against the country ( Hayes, 2016 ). Donald Trump on the other manus, as the state and in using Twitter for official concern ( Knight First Amendment Plant, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., 2018 ), engages in the opposite. He spreads hate through sowing discord and enmity by pitting American denizen against American citizen. Although, this manipulation by the land confronting its people is non a new phenomenon. Governments in the by have embraced the affordances of digital spaces and the Internet to move against their citizens. Evidence of this is seen in cases of surveillance ( ACLU, northward.d .) or the Arab Jump ( Easily, 2011 ; Morozov, 2009 ), in an effort by the government to command citizens. Of course, state or other regime entities in the United states of america do also engage in similar activities, as the police actively monitored the Facebook usage of the Dakota pipeline activists and their protests ( CBC News, 2016 ). The unique attribute hither is that the caput of country, the president of the United States, has engaged in direct communication efforts to carve up the land.
Analytical Framework
As previously mentioned, at that place is no shortage of offensive remarks shared by Donald Trump. There are arguments nearly the intent, meaning, and context of Trump's words from the human himself and his supporters (whether official government members, the media, or American citizens). The primary reason these arguments be is due to Trump'due south use of enthymemes within his rhetoric. Without use of the enthymeme, Trump would need to be explicit in his statements for his supporters to understand the meaning, so deniability is less plausible.
In order to demonstrate Trump'southward use of enthymemes in tweets, I examined a series of his tweets, starting with the well-nigh well-known (tweets receiving attention and media coverage), and searched the Trump Twitter Annal V2 for boosted tweets. I define media coverage as a story covered by a diversity of souces including national (The Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, NPR), local (LA Times, The Detroit News), and international (BBC, The Independent). Both national and local Fox News outlets covered these stories, thus providing coverage from both major parties' viewpoints.
The chart below (Encounter Table 1) shows the number of Comments, Retweets, and Likes for the tweets. Some tweets exercise not have annotate data as the screenshots did not include that data and tweets are non accessible due to Trump's Twitter intermission. These numbers indicate the popularity of the tweets due to the number of interactions.
Table 1
Number of Comments. Retweets, and Likes for Selected Tweets.
Annotation: Numbers are represented in the thousands.
While the assortment of tweets was numerous, the goal was to discover content displaying multiple aspects of Trump's rhetoric of hate, thereby showing the broad spectrum of Trump's ire rather than focusing on a particular demographic. In one case I obtained the specific tweets for this study, I analyzed them for enthymemes. After determining that all selected tweets functioned as enthymemes, I looked for evidence showing that the audience believed, supplied, and understood the meaning of each enthymeme in order to buy-in to the argument Trump presented. I also assessed the tweets usage of ideographs inside Trump's tweets.
Presidential Use of Digital Rhetoric
While presidential speeches and oratory take long been a focal point of scholarship, the advent of social media has enabled a new method for candidates to connect with and motivate followers. The use of digital tools and the Internet started with Howard Dean in the 2004 ballot and his entrada's use of targeted emails, blogs, and Meetup groups to organize supporters. Barack Obama's campaign continued building on and using the tools and strategies developed by Dean'southward campaign to actively engage with supporters ( Kreiss, 2012 ).
With the inflow of Twitter in 2006, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney used Twitter in their 2008 presidential campaigns. Additionally, in this election year, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Manus Romney developed and utilized websites. Dadas ( 2008 ) investigated how effectively these three presidential candidates used their websites to connect with constituents, volunteers, and the American people in order to engage more straight and encourage participation.
Bernie Sanders was next to harness the power of the Internet through official promotional uses and unofficial grassroots efforts ( Penney, 2017 ). His campaign used common applications similar email, merely in new ways, the focus being on quantity through smaller donations along with new social media applications such every bit Reddit ( Chadwick & Stromer-Galley, 2016 ).
While presidential candidates used social media in the past, and several used Twitter (Romney, Obama, Clinton), Twitter was the game changer in Trump's campaign more and then than any other candidate, enabling him to "generate free media" ( Ott & Dickinson, 2020, p. 12 ). This free media included coverage of his tweets besides as the tweets themselves. This leads us to today, where most scholarship on presidential digital rhetoric focuses on Trump's use of Twitter.
Trump and Online Hate
Trump'southward insulting language and lack of civility contained in his tweets is not a new phenomenon. Lee and Lim conducted an assay of 2 periods during the 2022 presidential campaign, covering a total of ii weeks and found that 10.five% of Trump's tweets in this timeframe were uncivil, while Hillary Clinton did not take a single uncivil tweet ( 2016 ). Trump is well-known for his misogynistic and racist statements through in-person remarks and digital spaces, primarily using Twitter to spread these statements ( Eddington, 2018 ).
Nonetheless, Trump'southward linguistic communication is not merely offensive, but his rhetoric of hate inside digital spaces exerts a corking corporeality of influence on his supporters. During Trump's 2022 presidential campaign, his rhetoric fueled the action of multiple white nationalist groups. These groups used digital platforms to support Trump's election campaign including acme Neo-Nazi websites: The Daily Stormer and Stormfront ( Barnett, 2019 ). This credence and adherence to the behavior espoused by Trump's words and the strong promotion and campaigning by these groups on his behalf, makes it hard for Trump to deny the meaning of the enthymemes within his tweets. The tweets are directed to an audition who respond equally expected to the messages.
Eddington argues that the use of the hashtag, #MakeAmericaGreatAgain (#MAGA) allows online detest groups to unite in a discursive space ( 2018 ). While individuals and groups can always connect directly with Trump'southward Twitter account, hashtags allow them to find and link with others who are like-minded. Hashtags within Twitter are also considered an affordance, because a hashtag "serves to coordinate big-scale discussion spaces that many can engage in at once" ( Eddington, 2018, p. 3 ). The ability to appoint with others, including those not tied to a item geographical area, is an affordance that encourages activism.
The apply of social media and digital tools to rally supporters is a common practice used in activism. The affordances (apportionment, connection, speed) of social media provide bureau and the ability to organize and as well allow those wishing to spread hate to do so with ease. What has motivated and worked for activism has also worked in Trump's favor. Trump stokes fear and converts it to outrage by gathering people together in a united front confronting what they have envisioned as a incorrect or an abuse. The same tactics used past activists from the Arab Leap to Occupy Wall Street are now being used by Trump to remain in power. Castells ( 2012 ) states, "Merely the big bang of a social movement starts with the transformation of emotion into activity" (p. thirteen), and Trump does this well. Trump'south supporters see their American Dream, their legacy as white people, being threatened and taken abroad, which angers and mobilizes them.
The foundation to understanding Trump's effective utilise of Twitter starts with what Ott & Dickinson ( 2020 ) articulate as way. "For united states of america, style combines Trump'southward general manner of speaking with his preferred modality of speaking" (p. ii). They analyze his manner of speaking equally "an melancholia appeal of white rage" (p. two) using Twitter as the means to distribute vitriol confronting the other. The other being anyone who is not white, heterosexual, able bodied or male who takes abroad what has been the purview of white masculinity.
As previously mentioned, Twitter embodies simplicity, impulsivity, and incivility, characteristics that complement Trump's style. Simplicity is based on the limited characters Twitter allows. The maximum number of characters was 140, but in November of 2022 Twitter doubled the number to 280. While the tweets analyzed in this paper occurred after 2017, the number of characters all the same restricts the "chapters to convey complex ideas and concepts" ( Ott & Dickinson, 2020, p. 62 ). Impulsivity stems from the ease and lack of attempt needed to tweet. This lack of effort corelates to the inability to hash out difficult or controversial topics effectively. Ott and Dickison elaborate, "Since tweeting requires footling endeavour, it requires picayune forethought, reflection, or consideration of consequences" (p. 62). Since endeavor is not required, complex topics are not addressed. Lastly, "Uncivil communication refers to voice communication that is impolite, insulting, or otherwise offensive" ( Ott & Dickinson, 2020, p. 63 ). Twitter'due south informality and lack of personal interaction are ii attributes that contribute to incivility as formal communication is more civil and people often will not say offensive things in person (Ott & Dickinson, 2021). These aspects contribute to Trump's entreatment and apply of white rage to engage his followers through his utilise of bombastic enthymemes. The tweets examined in this newspaper exemplify this practice by Trump.
Joshua Gunn ( 2018 ) labels Trump's rhetoric and style equally perverse. While many may be repulsed by this perverse style, Trump'due south followers are entranced by it. In contemplating this attraction Gunn suggests nosotros start, "with a consideration of perversity as a genre that invites affective or emotional investment" (p. 173). Thus, Trump's perverse rhetoric connects through emotionally charged hyperboles wrapped in white rage.
Trump's use of Twitter and the Enthymeme
What differentiates Trump from past presidents is his prolific use of Twitter to divide the American people, non unite them. When the nation needed a leader to bring them together in 2020, during both a global pandemic and the fight against racial injustice fueled by George Floyd'south murder, Trump turned to Twitter to stoke the fires of intolerance. Trump encourages white rage every bit "Trump locates in his audience their virtue as passive marginalized subjects. He emphasizes how they are forgotten, demoralized, attacked, and dispossessed of their birth rights. Information technology is for these reasons that they are entitled to their revenge" ( Kelly, 2019, p. 19 ). His rhetoric fuels detest and creates an United states of america (Trump supporters) versus Them (other Americans), thus pitting Americans versus Americans.
The utilize of Trump's enthymemes as a tool in connecting with his supporters and sending messages of hate also gives him the ability to deny the hate implicit in the message. As McCaughey ( 2020 ), a onetime lieutenant governor of New York, states, "CNN defendant the president of fearmongering 'white suburban voters.' But it's CNN that is being racist — by assuming that merely whites ain homes in the suburbs" (para. 13). Trump directly links to McCaughey's opinion piece in the tweet in Figure 8 in an try to deflect from his racist actions. McAlister ( 2018 ) discusses the advantage of Twitter in constructing enthymemes for Trump, "The enthymeme's power to coffin premises that may exist both unutterable and unchallenged for a pop audience is crucial when considering how Trump's campaign made use of Twitter's condensed format to advance assertations in place of arguments" (p. 7). The character limitation of Twitter inherently creates missing parts by limiting the length of the bulletin, thus allowing the audition to fill in the parts and construct the pregnant.
Trump's supporters too accept advantage of the cover enthymemes provide. Hawdon et al. ( 2020 ), declare "…enthymemes allow right-wing extremists to wear their support for Trump like a reversible jacket, changing the direction to suit the setting and audition while maintaining a public-facing persona by feigning plausible deniability of their ideological leanings" (p. 11). If right-wing extremists are with co-workers at the employee cafeteria, they encounter a different audience and location than attending a Trump rally with like-minded individuals.
Words are not the only possible component of enthymemes. Hashtags can play the role of enthymemes as well. It can be argued that Trump'southward hashtags, #MAGA and #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, work as enthymemes in tweets considering "Make America Great Once again" returns the states to a time when white men were in accuse. "His campaign message resonated with white supremacists across the U.S., who hoped that an election victory would 'make America groovy once again' by reinstalling white power" ( Perry et al., 2019, p. 54 ).
Tweets: Misogyny, Racism, and Classism
Trump'southward tweet, past referring to the Obama era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule to frighten suburban dwellers into voting for him (See Effigy 8), uses enthymemes to non only invoke racism, but misogyny. His tweet besides embeds an ideograph within an enthymeme to establish an agreement of what is at pale. The audience co-creates the pregnant through supplying the missing arguments of the tweet, every bit well as forming a common agreement of what the ideograph, The American Dream, contextually means.
Trump ( 2020d ) starts his tweet (Run into Figure 8) by addressing his stated audience, "The Suburban Housewives of America," which beckons to a foretime era where women stayed habitation and cared for the children and home. This is ironic considering, equally of December 2019, American women represented the majority of the workforce at 50.04% ( Constabulary, 2020, para. 1 ) (although this statistic eliminates self-employed and subcontract workers). Therefore, peradventure Trump should be more concerned with the suburban househusband voting for him. This retro vision of women equally stay-at-habitation housewives is non in touch on with the reality of 2020, although the pandemic has played a office ( Gershon, 2020 ; Guilford & Cambon, 2020 ) in women's participation in the labor forcefulness in a myriad of ways. Trump needs his supporters to hold that the suburban housewife withal exists. He combines misogyny with racism as the suburbs are where white people supposedly live. Well-nigh past uses of race have been directed towards white men and their "losses" that occur when women or minorities gain ( McAlister, 2018 ). This tweet uses race, but is directed more specifically to white women in the suburbs who are housewives.
However, there still exist suburban housewives who agree with Trump every bit seen in Figure ten. Judy Reppart does not specify the type of housewife she is, but states she is 1 and will be voting for Trump. Her respond exemplifies the simplicity of Twitter as her response is brusque and concise in meaning.
Figure ix Trump's Tweet About Suburban Housewives Voting for Him.
Figure 10 Housewife Tweet Like-minded with Trump.
The Obama era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) dominion required cities receiving federal housing funds to address bias and racial inequities in housing ( Kurtzleben, 2020 ). Trump invokes his rescinding of the AFFH every bit the action resulting in the return of the suburbs to the idyllic peaceful way of living without low-income housing or people of colour in the neighborhood. Trump'southward tweet ( 2020e ) states, "They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running programme where low-income people would invade their neighborhood" (See Figure nine). Trump's employ of the word invade too signals that depression-income people moving to the suburbs are committing an act of assailment against the current residents. His message is clear and a classic Us (white suburban Americans) versus Them (low-income people of color).
Clearly Trump'due south followers agree the suburbs would be destroyed through a loss in property values (Run into Figure 11). Roy Williams reverts to incivility too through name calling, "Dementia Joe." The impulsivity in writing this tweet is evident via the typo "of" instead of "if."
Effigy 11 Tweet Agreeing with Trump about Housing Prices.
To ready the theme of Us versus Them, Trump uses an ideograph to situate the enthymeme in this tweet (Run into Figure 8) for his supporters. The phrase, The American Dream, as an ideograph, correlates to a time in the past where white men were in accuse, women were housewives, and the American Dream consisted of a house in the suburbs. What comprises the American Dream has ranged from "religious freedom to a house in the suburbs" ( Hochschild, 1996, p. fifteen ), to the opportunities bachelor for all willing to work difficult to earn success ( Bormann, 1985 ). "Biden volition destroy your neighborhood and your American Dream. I will preserve it and make it even better!" This is Trump ( 2020d ) implying that a vote for him will proceed the American Dream and suburbs intact.
Furthermore, the reference to low-income people as invaders expresses an additional element of Trump'due south rhetoric to his supporters – classism. Trump plays on people's fears and prejudices, that low-income housing brings undesirables. As people of poverty move into the neighborhood, they bring crime, thus destroying the neighborhood and the American Dream. Along with financial success beingness viewed every bit an indicator of achieving the American Dream ( Kasser & Ryan, 1993 ), this viewpoint buttresses the myth that low-income people take not worked hard. Therefore, they do not deserve the advantage of achieving the American Dream and living in the suburbs. Trump's message is that if low-income people would like to alive in the suburbs, they also can partake in the difficult piece of work necessary to achieve these goals.
Trump's bulletin echoes loud and clear (See Effigy 12) as shown by this response and the incivility conveyed through its informality, word pick, and offensive stereotypes.
Effigy 12 Tweet Agreeing with Trump about Suburban Low-Income Housing.
In these ii tweets, Trump claims he volition protect and keep the suburbs rubber for the suburban housewife and that the American Dream will remain intact. This protection and safety are dependent on Trump existence reelected as Biden would bring an end to the American Dream by assuasive low-income people to move in, ruining the neighborhood with disruption and criminal offense.
Tweets: Racism and Misogyny
Trump's tweet thread (See Effigy 13) is directed at Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, and Tlaib were all born in the United States and Omar was born in Somalia only became a United States citizen in 2000. Trump tells these four women of color, all of whom are United States citizens and elected members of Congress, to go back to where they came from. This control upholds a long-standing American racist trope ( Dwyer, 2019 ) and can exist considered harassment and discrimination past the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC, n.d .). Additionally, Ocasio-Cortez is Puerto Rican (her female parent was born in Puerto Rico and her begetter was born in the United States to Puerto Rican parents) and Puerto Ricans are U.s.a. citizens. Readers can conclude from Trump'southward tweet that Puerto Ricans are second-class citizens. Information technology has also been reported that Trump denigrated Puerto Rico, calling information technology dirty and poor after the destruction of Hurricane Maria ( Ocasio, 2020 ).
Effigy 13 Thread Telling Four Members of Congress to Get Back Where They Came From.
Trump indicates these iv women are non considered real United states of america citizens and, therefore, not eligible to criticize the government through their freedom of speech. These tweets are ironic as they ignore the basic tenets of our democracy and the three branches of government established past Article 1 of the Constitution, whereby the Legislative Branch is granted the sole authority to enact legislation. Every bit legislators, these women help create the laws our authorities and citizens follow. Yet in his tweet, Trump attacks the women for telling the people of the U.s.a. how our government is to be run.
This response to Trump's thread (Come across Figure 14) shows how his followers believe these women are not citizens of the The states and are considered immigrants. The tweet's insulting comments showcase racist sentiments by claiming "white christian patriots" are the "courage of our highly advanced western civilisation."
Figure 14 Response Like-minded with Trump Most the Congresswomen.
Trump's (2019) start to the 2d part of the tweet, "…and viciously telling the people of the Us" also builds on the theme of 2d-course citizenship past implying that the four representatives are not part of the Usa, that they are non real citizens, and these four Congressional members are not welcome. The 4 representatives are portrayed as the "Them," and are against the "people of the United States," the "Us."
Misogyny is found in this aforementioned portion of the tweet, "now loudly……….and viciously telling the people of the U.s.a.," as Trump (2019) attributes the Representatives' conduct and speech with these negative descriptions. This allows the audience to fill in the blanks of what the words "loudly" and "viciously" hateful, with some other racist/misogynistic trope, that of the aroused black women ( Adams & Lott, 2019 , Scott, 2013 ).
While Trump insults a wide variety of people from dissimilar demographics, including both men and women, Republicans and Democrats, blacks and whites, his vitriol is excessively directed to these 4 women when compared to other members of Congress. National Public Radio (NPR) conducted a written report of every Trump tweet that referenced a member of Congress from Inauguration Day until Oct four, 2019, for a total of 700 tweets. NPR discovered that "While Trump has always spread his insults far and wide, the volume of personal insults and extreme language that he directed at the so-called 'squad' of four Autonomous Congresswomen and African American Rep. Elijah Cummings over the summer stood out" ( Rascoe, 2019, para. four ). While it is unclear whether these tweets contain more of a racist or misogynist motivation or a combination of the two, information technology is obvious these 4 women of colour are special targets of Trump because of their gender and race equally Paul Elliot Johnson ( 2017 ) states, "Trump'south rhetoric works past circulating gendered and raced accounts of American national identity" (p. 246).
When Trump tweets or speaks racist statements or sentiments, he is generally questioned or asked to deny the racist intent. At times he does, or his spokespeople do, but other times Trump does not deny the racist meaning and intent of his words. When questioned about the racism backside his tweets against the four representatives, Trump responded, "It doesn't business concern me because many people hold with me,' Trump said at the White House, 'A lot of people love information technology, by the way'" ( Miller et al., 2019, para. three ). He is right that many people exercise agree with him (See Figure 15).
Figure 15 Another Response Like-minded with Trump Virtually the Congresswomen.
Information technology is difficult for Trump to claim he is non racist when he direct states that the racism in his tweet does non business organization him because people agree with his statements, and non just agree, but passionately engage and accept this racism against their fellow Americans. If Trump did non want the label of a racist, he would address the issue, analyze his meaning, and disavow the people agreeing and loving the sentiment. Information technology is important to annotation too that Trump states, "many people agree with me," and non "many people agree with the tweet/statement." This acknowledges ownership of his significant behind the tweets, and as rhetor, he sends this message to his followers who understand the meaning and concord with Trump.
The United states versus Them theme Trump promotes through his employ of enthymemes in these tweets fits nicely into the ideograph of the American Dream envisioned by Trump and his supporters. The 4 representatives labeled as having come from other countries and are trying to tell the American regime and citizens how "…our authorities is to exist run" ( Trump, 2019 ), signals an implicit understanding that the four are not eligible for, or role of the American Dream. Trump (2019) reinforces this by suggesting they exit, "Why don't they go dorsum and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." The missing information supplied by Trump's audition is that the four representatives are not true Americans and therefore do not deserve to exist here. By existence here, they steal the American Dream from true Americans who have worked difficult to achieve its ideals and live in the suburbs.
Tweets: Advocating Concrete Violence
Trump's message of detest can as well be viewed in his calls to violence. Trump uses the enthymeme to encourage violence conducted by Americans confronting fellow Americans. The ideograph plays a part connecting "liberty" or the act of "liberating" to violence. The founding of The United States resulted from rebellion, fighting, and violence against the British. The United States has too sent the military to many places around the earth to protect freedom and liberty (e.g., Korea, Vietnam, Iraq) and so there is a connection between liberating and fighting. Trump's followers often equate the governmental wellness restrictions equally an infringement upon their liberty and people should fight back against these restrictions. Wearing a mask is viewed as an infringement (See Figure 19) as masks are "stinkin' masks" and Minnesotans should protest and not habiliment masks while protesting.
The group of iii tweets above (See Figures 16, 17, 18) relies heavily on enthymemes to create their co-constructed significant. The first two tweets comprise only two words, "Liberate Minnesota" ( Trump, 2020a ), and "Liberate Michigan" ( Trump, 2020b ). The 3rd tweet contains twelve words, providing additional meaning – "Liberate Virginia, and save your peachy 2nd subpoena. Information technology is under siege!" ( Trump, 2020c ).
Figure xvi Trump's Tweet Stating Liberate Minnesota!.
Figure 17 Trump's Tweet Stating Liberate Michigan!.
Figure eighteen Trump's Tweet Stating Liberate Virginia, and save your swell second Amendment It is under siege!.
Effigy 19 Tweet Agreeing with Trump'due south Call for Liberty.
These tweets are a message to protesters in those 3 states who opposed the lockdown restrictions/stay-at-home orders issued by the corresponding state governors. Medical experts, including Dr. Mohammed Arsiwala, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, supported Governor Widmer's actions to dull the virus ( Mauger & LeBlanc, 2020 ). These three governors are Democrats, although there were lockdown protests in states with Republican governors, such as Utah and Ohio, that did not receive "Liberate" tweets from Trump.
The tweets are a telephone call-to-activeness to liberate these states from an oppressive regime imposing tyranny on American patriots protesting measures imposed on the citizens of these states. Trump's use of capital letters (For the 'liberate' parts of the tweets) indicates shouting. Shouting signals an urgency to the state of affairs; this is besides not a request; it is a command. Trump's followers understood this as a call to artillery and activeness of online hate groups discussing this need for activeness, increased ( Collins & Zadrozny, 2020 ). This message constituted a call for physical violence directed to Americans and committed by Americans against Americans – the The states versus Them theme.
Trump's call to action appeared to resonate with his supporters (See Figure 20). This response too includes all capital messages to betoken the importance/shouting of the message. The response is simplistic and repetitive. Ott & Dickinson ( 2020 ) country, "In improver to tweeting simple, impulsive, and uncivil letters, Trump repeats them endlessly" (p. 87). This follower'due south message mimics those aforementioned characteristics while showing agreement with Trump'due south tweet.
Effigy 20 Tweet Agreeing with Trump'southward Tweets to Liberate States.
The tertiary tweet in the thread (See Effigy 18) starts in the aforementioned manner with "LIBERATE VIRGINIA" ( Trump, 2020c ), but continues with a more explicit control past referencing the Second Subpoena. "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free Land, the right of the people to keep and bear Artillery shall not be infringed" ( Constitution of the United States, n.d .). The bulletin understood and co-constructed between Trump and his followers is that, since the state imposes restrictions on the move of its citizens, it is just the beginning as other "rights and freedoms" will soon be taken away, including the Second Amendment.
While the response to this tweet (Encounter Figure 21) does not specifically state which "rights and freedoms" will stop to be, it agrees with Trump and the fight he calls for in Virginia.
Effigy 21 Tweet Agreeing with Trump'south Tweets to Stand Up for Rights and Liberty.
Once again, the enthymematic nature of these tweets poses a vagueness that allows for denial of the explicit meaning. When Twitter was pressed about the terms of service violations in reference to Trump promoting violence, Twitter'due south response stated, "The utilise of 'liberate' in the tweets is too vague to be actionable." ( Collins & Zadrozny, 2020, para. 12 ). Nevertheless, the message is still articulate to supporters. Hawdon et al. ( 2020 ), conclude from their research that enthymemes lose their ambiguity when used in online spaces where chances increase that "…vulnerable individuals move from like-minded with hate to interim on it" (p. 12).
Several months afterward Trump tweeted these three calls to violence, a plot was discovered aiming to kidnap Governor Whitmer of Michigan ( Carrega et al., 2020 ). Instead of denouncing the plot and disavowing the supporters interim in his proper name, Trump deflected the arraign to the victim, Governor Whitmer. Although Trump ( 2020f ) in the third function of the thread (Run into Figure 22) starts with, "I do not tolerate ANY farthermost violence. Defending ALL Americans, fifty-fifty those who oppose and attack me, is what I volition ever do every bit your President!" he speedily rescinds that argument. Trump ( 2020f ) continues in the tweet, "Governor Whitmer—open your state, open up your schools, and open upward your churches!" as he pursues the theme of liberation and tacit approval of the current and future attacks against Governor Whitmer.
Figure 22 Thread of Three Tweets Criticizing Governor Whitmer.
Conclusion
While Trump is no longer president, his ability to connect with and movement millions of Americans to action continues through establishment of his own spider web site and media coverage of the past president who continues to influence his followers, politicians and policies. We see Trump'south legacy in the treatment of Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney in response to her May 3 statement that the election was not stolen (Run into Effigy 23). Fellow Republicans launched an attack and removed Cheney from her leadership position in the Republican party as the Number three House Republican.
Effigy 23 Liz Cheney Disagreeing with Trump's Claim the Election was Stolen.
Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, members of Congress, embarked on a rally tour on May 7, 2022 ( Wang, 2021 ) to continue where Trump left off. The "America First" rallies highlighted tributes to Trump forth with lies and insults a la Trump style. It appears that the removal of Trump from the Oval Function and social media strengthened his followers resolve instead of weakening information technology.
The recent voter suppression laws that take been introduced and/or passed provide a glimpse into what the United states of america can expect from Trump'due south connected influence. According to the Brennan Center ( 2021 ), "As of March 24, legislators have introduced 361 bills with restrictive provisions in 47 states" (para 1, emphasis in original). These bills confront what Republicans deem as necessary reforms against the frequently claimed, but never proven, voter fraud that ousted Trump from office. If the reaction to an unfavorable result such as a lost ballot is castigating laws, Trump wins.
Trump'due south use of enthymemes to spread hate, whether information technology be through misogynistic, racist, classist, or other hateful elements, depends essentially on his supporters agreement and co-creating the significant of his tweets. Without his supporters, Trump's tweets would be a monologue, a i-sided chat, but through them, a partitioning between citizens is sown and deepened. In examining Trump's tweets, Ott ( 2017 ) concludes that "Trump's simple, impulsive, and uncivil Tweets do more than merely reflect sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia; they spread those ideologies similar a social cancer" (p. 64). Thus, Trump's followers understand, co-construct, and mind the messages he tweets.
The tweets within this paper were selected equally exemplars of Trump's enthymematic tweeting, promoting hate with a goal of creating a divide among Americans. While a item tweet may be directed towards a specific demographic group, the range of his hate encompasses multiple demographics in his goal of an Usa versus Them America. Trump's hate is the 1 expanse where he does not discriminate and even with a diminished public presence, Trump's hateful rhetoric still presents a articulate and present danger to a democratic United States.
Source: https://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/articles/10.33972/jhs.196/
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